Political reforms in Tonga are inevitable, the Princess Regent, HRH Salote Mafile'o Pilolevu Tuita, told the opening of parliament yesterday, but reforms must be managed properly to avoid disastrous consequences, she warned.

"These reforms must be undertaken at a pace, direction, and extent which we Tongans, as a united and forward-looking nation, can manage properly in the overall, long-term interest of our beloved nation. Let us not follow the examples of other countries who have rushed into political reforms without the prerequisite preparations, and the inevitable disastrous consequences," she said, in concluding her speech from the throne, at the opening of the 106th session of the Tongan Legislative Assembly yesterday.

The princess as Regent took the place of her father, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV (87) who remains in Auckland for medical care. But, unlike her father's speeches from the throne, the Princess Regent openly discussed the possibility of political reforms.

"Change is a fact of life, and thus political changes or reforms are inevitable," she said, "and must be discussed thoroughly by both the public and the government."

She noted that the Parliamentary National Committee for Political Reform, chaired by HRH Prince Tu'ipelehake, had the full support of government. "We await with interest the outcome of their meetings and consultations with the people," she said.

Remittances

The Princess Regent, who began her speech by focusing of the economy, said that despite the current financial difficulties, she believed that Tonga is well positioned to address challenges ahead.

She said that private remittances from overseas were helping to shore-up the economy, despite earlier expectations of such remittances slowing down drastically.

"Tonga ranks top of the world in terms of the contribution that Tongans overseas make to living standards within the Kingdom. World Bank figures show remittances, income from overseas, to be as large as the Gross Domestic Product.

...“This reflects that the bonds of family, church, friendship, culture and tradition may be stronger for the people of Tonga than any other country...”.

Aspirations

The Regent went on to say that Government had endorsed the Strategic Development Plan 8 as the expression of the people...’s wish for a better society and higher living standards by economic growth.

She said that in a series of national talks, the people had made it clear that they wanted growth led by the private sector and translated into employment.

"Over in the last 12 months we have experienced significant changes in the social and economic environment as well as the political landscape. The political debate that began and is evident through the work of the parliamentary National Committee for Political Reform (NCPR) is a sign that we have matured as a nation to be able to openly discuss and debate the highest level of governance."

Anti-corruption

The Regent said that in the budget that is to be released soon, the Government commitments to ensure that people in rural and regional areas also benefited from economic development and to protect the poor, included the introduction of health financing options such as voluntary health insurance schemes, user fees exempting the poor, special attention to youth education and training, and pro-poor assistance strategies.

The Regent said that in order to strengthen good governance, Government would set up an independent anti-corruption body with investigative capacity to deal with all public sector corruption allegations.

Other initiatives to ensure good governance within government, included the set up of a leadership code, strengthening government financial management and auditing, strengthening corporate and good governance in public enterprises, revenue audit, and continuation of a major initiative of regulatory reform.

Private-Sector growth

The Regent said, that a positive Government work plan, supporting private sector growth, would include reforming government procurement to promote outsourcing and coaching local suppliers to win tenders, support redundant public servants who wish to move to private sector, lower taxes on business inputs, abolishing customs duty on capital goods and non-fuel intermediate business inputs, as well as reforms to lower regulatory costs of starting and running a business.

"The donor community have indicated that they would assist with economic and fiscal stabilization and with minimizing the cost of change."

A rise in the crime rate was another concern that Government gives top priority to, and the Regent emphasized that government was serious about the fight against crime, and would make available additional resources to authorities, ensure better training and education of the police force, and encourage communities to get involved in preventing crimes in villages.

...“We all want a country that is safe and this requires a strong stance against all forms of crime. Our law and order services will continue to take a tough approach against crimes, and will be given the resources to promptly prosecute and reduce crime rates...”.

The Regent concluded that Government was confident that despite the current difficult economic and political climate, "the people of Tonga, together and united can rise to overcome the challenges of regeneration and reformation, economically, politically, and socially.

"And with the new policies that Government is formulating, there is every chance of the economy being turned around within the next three years," she said.